


Misfire

by rinnwrites



Series: Rough Around The Edges (Tony Stark Bingo 2018) [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: And Weirdness about his arm, Bucky Barnes Has Issues, Established Relationship, Kinda, Light Angst, M/M, Short & Sweet, Tony Fixing Bucky's Arm, WAY post Infinity War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 17:17:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15101381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinnwrites/pseuds/rinnwrites
Summary: Tony added a repulsor to Bucky's arm and...it could have gone better.orTony Stark Bingo - A4: [image of Tony brandishing an Iron Man gauntlet]





	Misfire

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes I tell myself to write something that isn't Winteriron and then I sit down and write more Winteriron. This was one of those times. You can see square A4 on my bingo card on my writing tumblr [here!](https://rinnwrites.tumblr.com/post/175386471567/heres-my-tony-stark-bingo-card-and-fill)

“I’m not so sure about this, Doll.” 

Bucky’s voice carried a note of worry, his feet shifted uneasily where he stood, rubber soles softly squeaking against the mat on the training room floor. The extra weight of his new arm was foreign and uncomfortable. It was lighter than HYDRA’s model, but still heavier than the Wakandan replacement he’d donned for the war against Thanos. 

He’d felt the most freedom when he was without it all together, but his affair with peace and simplicity was over. 

Sure, there hadn’t been much fighting since their hard won victory against the Titan, but Bucky still felt uneasy after months in the soul world...and despite that, he was still calling himself an Avenger. After everything they’d done for him, for the world, he owed it to the team to train, to be at his best should the call to assemble come.

“Don’t worry, I’ve been doing this for over a decade and I hardly ever get hurt anymore.” Tony assured cheerily from beside him, drawing Bucky back from the recesses of his mind, it had become difficult to stick to the present, readjusting to this reality was an ongoing battle.

Tony’s words were less of a comfort to Bucky than they should have been, but Bucky sighed and shrugged, he wasn’t getting out of at least trying this once. 

Bucky didn’t regret expressing his appreciation for Tony’s hand repulsors, not exactly. It had been honest, at least. He’d been admiring the gauntlet of one suit where it sat in the workshop, complex components exposed for maintenance. The last thing he’d expected was for his boyfriend to surprise him this morning with a new prototype prosthetic….with a repulsor of his own built in. 

Now he found himself next to Tony in the training room with a row of dummies set up across from them. Tony was dressed in loose pants and a grey wife-beater, one hand covered by his own gauntlet as he prepared to show Bucky just how it was done. 

“Okay you’re going to extend your arm, and spread your fingers wide, that’ll power it up,” he explained, demonstrating as he spoke. 

Bucky followed suit, hearing the familiar whine of the repulsor charging up and feeling the strange vibration of it up his arm, an odd sensation that had him wanting to squirm away from the limb, an escape attempt just as futile as it had been 80 years ago when he’d woken up to the first one. As the repulsor reached full power he felt mechanisms click, tension built in the joints of each finger, and instinctively tried bending them, a shot of panic rushing through him at the feeling of immobility.

_ CRASH _

The fingers bent, breaking the tension within them and the repulsor fired, a beam of heat and light crossing the room and taking out the side of one of the dummies in a bright explosion of energy and foam. The discharge pushed Bucky’s arm backward so forcefully that the rest of his body had no choice but to follow, and he lost his footing, panic welling up in him at the lack of control of his body, the brief sensation of  _ falling. _

He ended up on the floor, groaning softly as he rubbed at the seam where metal met skin. A jerk like that would have dislocated his shoulder were it just skin and bone and fragile human cartilage, the metal remained pristine and unmoving, he scowled down at it.

“Yeah….probably should have walked you through the mechanisms first,” Tony muttered, there was a note of concern in his voice as he looked down at Bucky, repulsor deactivated and hanging at his side. “I broke like...half the workshop the first time I tried it, if that’s any consolation.” 

Bucky cradled his arm against his chest and breathed in and out slowly, willing the combination of the pain and the energy the repulsor blast had sent through him not to push him into some sort of panic attack, not again. 

He hated this, he decided. It was unnatural, which was an odd thing, he thought, given that the entire arm was man made, and it had simply felt like a part of him for decades. . 

“I don’t want to do this Tony.” he said quietly from the floor, not looking up. 

“Hey, don’t worry, it just takes some practice and you’ll get used to it, I promise-” Tony knelt in front of Bucky, stopping when he caught the raw and panicked look in Bucky’s eyes. “...or not, I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to…” he trailed off, running his fingers through his hair as a guilty look crossed his face, at look that Bucky knew all too well.

It was the look he got any time his inventions weren’t received as expected. Bucky knew that Tony was holding onto grief from the past when the things he created had been used to do harm, he knew how much the inventor wanted to use his gifts to make the world better, and how deeply it cut him when it didn’t work that way. 

“Don’t.” Bucky scolded, “I know that look, you don’t get to feel bad about this. It’s okay, I’m fine, I just...I want the old arm back, please.”

“Yes, of course, we can go change it now.” Tony answered immediately, though the regretful look lingered on his face. 

“Hey,” Bucky stood, pulling Tony up with him, linking flesh fingers with Tony’s gauntlet-free hand. He rested his forehead on Tony’s, looking down into deep brown eyes, wells of knowledge and empathy and determination and regret. “Let’s leave the blasting to Iron Man and let me just do the punching, yeah?” he smiled and brushed his lips over Tony’s in a soft kiss before turning to the door to head towards the lab and get his old arm back. 

“Yeah.” Tony answered, following behind him with a soft smile of his own. 


End file.
